Interview with Jerrica Benton
by ClassicJM85
Summary: Entertainment Weekly interviews Jerrica Benton to find out what the former Princess of Pop is up to 19 years after dropping out of the spot light!


Copyright ©2007 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. Jem", related characters, places and things are copyrighted 1985-2008 by Hasbro, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with either company

**A "Jem" Fan-Fiction**

By ClassicJM85

**Title:** Interview with Jerrica Benton

This is a fictional interview I made posing as _Entertainment Weekly_ and interviewing Jerrica Benton in the year 2007; nearly 20 years after the cartoon series went off air. Read to see how her life has been the last 19 years. Enjoy!

January 15th, 2007

Every three weeks here at _Entertainment Weekly _we like to do a special interview in the magazine on a celebrity who has been out of the limelight for some time. Some of our readers want to know "what happened" to so and so. That is where _Entertainment Weekly _comes in; we want to indulge some our followers.

This month we had a sit down with Jerrica Benton, known to many people as "Jem" of 'Jem and the Holograms.' She had finally revealed herself as one in the same at an expo in New York City in 1991. Her fame started to go down hill in the very late Eighties, and she has not really been heard of lately. She agreed to have an interview with us and share her life to her loyal fans so we can all finally see what the now forty-something is up to.

**EW:** Hello Jerrica, thank you for agreeing to this interview. A lot of people have been wondering what happened to you and we are hoping to shed some light on that today.

**JB:** Thank you! It is my pleasure to be here. I'd do anything for my fans.

**EW:** First question: Do you prefer being called Jerrica or Jem?

**JB:** -laughs- Either is fine. Honestly, I think more people call me Jem, but either is fine.

**EW:** Ok _Jem._ Everyone knows how absolutely dominant Jem and the Holograms were in the mid-Eighties. You guys owned the billboard releasing number one hits every month it seemed. You had movies, a clothing line, toys, everything! You guys were the biggest thing to happen in the Eighties. What happened in 1988? Why did Jem and the Holograms just seem to disappear?

**JB:** Believe me I remember. I was in my early twenties and lived a pretty high life. I miss the Eighties! -laughs- What happened to us? Well I wouldn't say we "disappeared" exactly. 1988 is when things started to get slow. There are only so many great songs one group can pump out. I think what happened was we did SO much in three or four years that we had nothing left in 1988. We were burned out! At the time we weren't scared because we were famous! We decided to do a world tour in 1989 instead of trying to make new songs. The Dream Tour was totally outrageous in the mid-Eighties, so we imagined that the 1989 "Wicked" Tour would be just as good.

**EW:** And was it?

**JB:** It didn't go over that bad, but it was totally not as good as the first tour. Our fans over seas still loved us a lot, but the States didn't go quite as planned. That part of the tour depressed us a bit. How did we lose so many fans in such a short period? The tour didn't bomb but it sure didn't put us back at the top.

**EW:** What happened next?

**JB:** I decided to call a friend of mine. If anyone knew about staying on top it was Alvin Seville, of "Alvin and the Chipmunks." They finished their career with thirty seven albums and 36 top twenty hits! In 1989 his band was also on the decline though.

**EW:** And what did Alvin say?

**JB:** To be honest he didn't have much advice as he was having a bad time himself. Rumor was Simon had a drug problem and the band was losing money fast. It was a worse time for them really. The Chippettes went bankrupt that same year! So the Holograms and I were on our own.

**EW:** When the Eighties ended, what happened with you?

**JB:** After the tour we decided to take a break from music and give each other some room. We didn't break up, but kind of went separate ways to think about things. That was a rough time for me. I was still rich as ever and my name was still a house hold name in 1990. Like most people I assumed the Nineties would be an extension of the Eighties. Go figure. I partied my ass off! I dropped Rio in late 1989 because I couldn't handle being just with him at the time. He seemed fine with it so I guess he sensed the end as well. Unfortunately we are not friends anymore. Once he was out of the picture I had a few one night stands. Let me clarify some of those rumors: I never had sex with the guy who played James Bond Jr. But I will admit that the actor who played Flint on "G.I. Joe" and I had a few flings. I even experimented with She-Ra once. I'm not afraid to admit this stuff in the year 2007 when it happened in 1990.

**EW:** What about the Holograms? You were busy using vices to blow off some steam in 1990. What about the other girls?

**JB:** Kimber went into seclusion. She started writing songs again and wanted nothing to do with anyone. The rest of the girls pretty much used their wealth and status to do what I was doing.

**EW:** Did Jem and the Holograms ever come back together?

**JB:** Yes. Like I said we never broke up. We got back together in late 1990. Kimber had some songs and Starlight Music was still in my name ready to produce them. We put an album together and in 1991 we released _Syntho. _It flopped miserably and in 1992 I think we all had enough. The Holograms broke up and I'd be the first to say it didn't end well. I personally punched Carmen in the face. Kimber and I obviously stayed on speaking terms but we rarely saw one another.

**EW:** In 1992 you were on your own. What happened to Starlight Music?

**JB:** I eventually sold the company. I signed with Flat-line Entertainment as a solo act. I needed money and although I didn't want to sell my Dad's company, I had to in order to keep up my life of luxury. Kimber pretty much hated me for selling it.

**EW:** Did your career ever really take off again?

**JB:** I released two albums with Flat-line. The first one didn't do badly. My single "Drive-by Kiss" cracked the top twenty in 1993. That was my first top 20 hit in five years. The second album came out in 1995 and did horrible. The company released me after that. I just turned thirty-two in 1995 and my career was over. I didn't have half the money I had ten years prior. Drugs and stupid purchases really destroyed me. I've been clean of drugs since 1996 I am happy to say. I at least managed to clean myself up. When you are on top and start to fall…people don't realize how quickly drugs can come into the picture.

**EW:** What have you been up to since 1996? Have the past Eleven years been kind to you?

**JB:** Well I down sized into a smaller home, but I now reside in Beverly Hills. I have an apartment in New York City and a beach house in Hawaii.

**EW:** It sounds like you are still doing very well.

**JB:** Well there is good reason for that. Let me answer your question about what I've been up to the last eleven years. In 1998 I went to New York and started doing Broadway. I mostly did minor roles. I ended up in "Hairspray" and "Mama Mia" when all was said and done. I enjoyed it. I did Broadway for a few years before I went back to California. By that point I was at least stabilized financially and I felt much better about myself. Once I was back in Cali, I decided that I needed my career back. I wanted the name "Jem" back in lights again. Apparently I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

**EW:** Oh?

**JB:** I received a call from my sister, Kimber. Apparently she got the Holograms back together in 1999 and they were doing shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Now I received this call in 2002. I was thirty-nine and thinking of ways to get back into the music world. They didn't ask me to come back but wanted to see what I was doing. Fair enough. I told them I was going to get back into music. When I was done talking to Kimber, I had an idea. Las Vegas baby!

**EW:** Vegas? You mean you wanted to be a show in Las Vegas?

**JB:** I figured it would be a good way to jumpstart my career again. There was no way I was going to ask the Holograms to come back and it seemed they felt the same way about me. I was glad that we just sorta made up on the phone. That was good enough for me.

**EW:** Did Vegas work out for you?

**JB:** It went pretty well. I played at "Excalibur" for the entire year of 2003. I had an apartment in Vegas at the time so it was easy. In the beginning of 2004 I played at the "Flamingo Hilton" and that was when things began to look better. The Flamingo Hilton was BIG in the 1980's so they were looking for a way to get big again.

**EW:** What better way then to hire one of the biggest stars of the 80s?

**JB:** Exactly! That's what they were counting on and it worked! It was a rad time there. I only worked there a few months but it felt good. The money was wicked, and I was back in the limelight…just a much smaller one.

**EW:** If it was so good why didn't you stay there?

**JB:** I moved on. The grand opening of the "Hooters Hotel and Casino" came. They offered me a lot of money to become one of their main acts. I naturally took it. Hooters corporate had the same idea; they were a big Eighties restaurant chain and wanted me to help them get established in Vegas. So I played there for about six months in 2004. I had an awesome time there as well. It was a load of fun. My name was at least back in lights…but I soon realized Vegas couldn't hold my interest. I wanted to be big again. I was the original Princess of Rock and Pop, no offense to Britney Spears…but I wanted my title back! I wanted the world to know Jem! Not the aging Rocker…but the charismatic blonde pop star! So I ended the Vegas scene in 2005. I finally got back to Cali permanently. That was when I bought my beach house in Hawaii. I sold my condo in Vegas but I kept my apartment in NYC.

**EW:** Ok so 2005 you are back in Cali trying to get big again. What did you do?

**JB:** I reopened Starlight Music. It was a slow process and took a lot of my free time but it was worth it. By early 2006 we were open for business. I didn't do this alone. I had some help from an old friend. Vivien Montgomery… -laughs- …Video, helped me do it. She was a struggling film maker and producer and wanted to go back to where she started. Starlight was back in business. Now it was time to make one more phone call.

**EW:** To who?

**JB:** Kimber and the rest of the Holograms. I told them about Starlight and I could tell they were REALLY excited. Atlantic City was starting to get old. They had toured there for six years…and without me they weren't attracting many people anymore. In 2006 we finally all met up. It was awesome to hang out with them again. They didn't change much. And Kimber is my sister…I mean I love her! We wasted all those years arguing. She forgave me for selling the company originally and she was really excited about the reopening. They are actually now in Las Vegas at the Flamingo Hilton doing what I did.

**EW:** Are Jem and the Holograms going to get back together?

**JB:** -Smiles- Now that would be "Truly Outrageous!"

End Interview.


End file.
